CONSERVATION work is being carried out on a historic ceiling at Kingston Lacy, which is at risk of deterioration.

Throughout this month, the National Trust commissioned conservators to carry out treatments to the ceiling of the Spanish Room.

Research made in preparation for the work revealed more about the complex story of, arguably, William John Bankes’ proudest achievement.

In the two to three years before leaving England for exile on the Continent in 1841, Bankes saw his Golden Room (later Spanish Room) ceiling to near completion. It was a remarkable confection of paintings taken from palaces in Venice - the place where he was to live out most of his remaining years.

Bankes bought the ceiling from a London art dealer, believing they came from the Palazzo Contarini degli Scrigni, built on the Grand Canal in Venice in 1609; but this was only partly true. Just the decorative ‘grotesque’ timber panels of swirling foliage on a gold background originated there.

Instead, the three pictorial canvases, including The Creation of the Elements, were copies of a ceiling partly by Paolo Veronese in the Ca’ Pisani. Those originals were destroyed in Berlin during World War II so survive only through the Kingston Lacy paintings.

A careful inspection by conservation expects Perry Lithgow has shown that 12 of the 16 decorative panels were extended, almost certainly in order to fit into Bankes’ coffered ceiling design. This addition of new wood in the 19th century, together with later restorations, has put the painting supports under strain when they naturally expand and contract. As a result, some of the paint has lifted from the timber, putting the ceiling at risk of deterioration.

Allison Sharpe, house and collections manager at Kingston Lacy, said: “The conservation works to this historic ceiling will secure the painted surface to the panel board to prevent any loss of decoration. Some of the extended panels have deteriorated in places where different material have reacted and aged.

“The conservators have consolidated existing loose paint and filled in losses. Surrounding decoration is better supported and missing patterns or images are recreated to the eye, which is no longer distracted by missing areas. Conservators will send samples for scientific analysis to help us understand how the panels were created and what was used to make them.”

The conservation project has ensured decorations are secured and will go on to be enjoyed by future generations.